In this episode, you’ll hear

• tips on solving family mysteries using autosomal DNA with genetic genealogy blogger Blaine T. Bettinger (See his article on autosomal DNA in the December 2011 Family Tree Magazine)
  
  
• an overview of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation DNA database with Dr. Ugo A. Perego, the site’s director of operations
  
  
• advice on looking for land records from Diana Crisman Smith, instructor of Family Tree University’s Land Records 101 course
  
  
• a meet-and-greet with Kerry Scott, Family Tree Magazine’s new online editor

... and more genealogy news and tips.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Tuesday, October 25, 2011 11:52:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

Arphax publishes books of land-ownership maps for US counties—500 to date. Now the company is building an online service that will let you search and view maps; create a map collection; create animated, personalized maps; and network with other members.

Subscribers will get access to 2,000 “big-picture” maps (state- or county-wide), then can search the library of about 40,000 “premium” maps (a number that will grow) by surname or place to add to their own map collection.

You’ll be able to create animations of family migrations and other geographic events; attach custom map markers, your own images and links to other web pages; and collaborate with other researchers. 

This is what the map viewer looks like:

It lets you zoom in and out, navigate to your ancestors' county, add markers, take snapshots of a place, search for maps related to places your ancestors moved, and view migrations. You can make your map markers private, public, or viewable by select others.

The HistoryGeo.com site suggests this application for the custom animated maps: “Watch an animation of both your mother's and father's families as they cross our country, with paths intersecting where you were born.” You could take this further back in time to “watch” when your great-grandparents’ lives intersected, getting research clues such as where to look for marriage or land records 

The service is still being set up, so a limited number of charter membership subscriptions are available ($42 for six months and 500 premium maps for your personal collection; $54 for six months and 1,000 premium maps). You also can register as a basic user to get a feel for the site. Once you register, click Launch Map Viewer to get started.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 11:53:10 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [4]

Aliquot parts is an important element in the public land survey system (PLSS), also called the rectangular survey system, which was used to survey and divvy up land starting shortly after the Revolutionary War.

States with land surveyed under the PLSS, called Public Land States, are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

That's everything except the original 13 states, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas and Hawaii. (Parts of Ohio were surveyed with the old metes-and-bounds system, too.)  

The PLSS established principal meridians—imaginary north-south lines—to serve as the starting point for surveying each 24x24-mile tract. A tract is divided into 16 townships; townships (23,040 acres) contain 36 sections, each 1 square mile (640 acres), like this: 

A section could be split into halves, quarters or other parts. A description of your ancestor’s subdivision on a land record might look like N½ SW¼, which you’d read as “the north half of the southwest quarter.”

Here’s an example of how land might be divided and described in aliquot parts:

This free FamilyTreeMagazine.com article has more information about the PLSS and the Bureau of Land Management’s free federal land patent site.

One of the video sessions in Family Tree University’s Summer 2011 Virtual Conference, Aug. 19-21, is Diana Crisman Smith’s demo on platting your ancestors’ properties using PLSS. Learn more about the conference and register here. 

Thursday, July 28, 2011 9:19:52 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [9]

• Family chart-printing service Generation Maps has changed its name to Family ChartMasters to better describe the company’s services. Visit the website at FamilyChartMasters.com. 

• The AARP is holding a sweepstakes with genealogy prizes including a five-hour research consultation with professional genealogist Megan Smolenyak, signed copies of Smolenyak’s books, Family Tree DNA testing, an Ancestry.com subscription and a $1,000 gift card. You don’t have to be an AARP member to enter, but you do need to be age 45 or older. Click here to enter. 

• Genealogy wiki WikiTree has announced that Tami Osmer Glatz (who’s written articles for Family Tree Magazine including the January 2011 guide to FamilySearch Centers) is the site’s new Cousin Connector. Her role is to suggest merges between trees and improving the quality of merged ancestor profiles.

• Thousands of historical Massachusetts and New England maps from the Perkins Collection, the archive of a family-owned surveying business, is now part of Historic Map Works. Available as a home subscription and through many libraries, Historic Map Works links maps with geocode data so you can search them by modern address, keywords, town names, or year. You also can order prints from the site.
  

• A new photo gift site called Snapily lets you create photo greetings with 3D effects (you move the card and decorative illustrations look 3D) and flip-animation (you tilt the card back and forth, and switch between two photos). Visit the website to see what each effect looks like. Prices for photo cards start at $2.99. 

Friday, June 03, 2011 9:30:32 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Family Tree University Land Records course (this self-paced course starts this week and run for a month, but you can still register until the end of the week)

• Family Tree Essentials CD, available from ShopFamilyTree.com

• August 2006 Family Tree Magazine digital issue, also  available from ShopFamilyTree.com

Monday, June 21, 2010 1:38:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• Finding Ancestors in the US Census: Online and Offline Research Strategies, taught by Jana Sloan Broglin
  
  
• Land Records 101: Using Deeds, Plats, Patents and More, taught by Diana Smith
  
  
• Tracing Immigrants: How to Research Your Family’s American Arrivals, taught by Lisa A. Alzo
  
  
• US Vital Records: Researching Births, Marriages, Deaths and Divorces, taught by George G. Morgan
  
  
• Reverse Genealogy: Working Forward to Break Down Brick Walls, taught by Lisa Louise Cooke
  
  
• Digital Photography Essentials: Techniques to Capture and Preserve Your Family History, taught by Nancy Hendrickson
  

Wednesday, May 05, 2010 10:27:47 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]

• US vital records, digitized in partnership with state archives. They include vital records from Vermont (1908 to 2008) and Delaware (1800 to 1933); divorces from Connecticut; and the Hayes Library Ohio Death Index.
  

Gibbs said that respondents to a lengthy Ancestry.com customer survey chose birth, marriage and death records as the resource they’d most like to see, and 1861 to 1914 as the time period most important to their search.

• Seven state censuses were released last year; look for more this year.

• US county land ownership maps were originally slated for release in 2009, but Gibbs’ team decided to key the records in a more useful but time-intensive way, delaying the launch until 2010.

• Enhanced 1920 US census records and index, similar to the improvements announced in December to earlier census collections.
  

• A 1950 "census substitute" consisting of city directories—helpful to reverse genealogists seeking living relatives, and to beginning researchers.

• 1880 Defective, Dependent and Delinquent ("DDD") schedules. These supplemental census schedules provide details on individuals with disabilities or who were institutionalized. Surviving records are currently scattered among libraries and state archives. (Can't wait until they go online? Download our cheat sheet to DDD schedules and their locations.)
  

• Index improvements to the 1790-to-1840 head-of-household censuses will key the tickmarks indicating household members’ sex, age ranges and status as slave or free, so you’ll be able to search on these parameters.

• The site will add 700 million more names from voter lists to the US Public Records Index database.

Thursday, January 14, 2010 9:32:38 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

• Click Search to search for a person’s name or other words in building descriptions. You’ll get a list of results for related buildings; click one to see information for that building.

• Click Street Index to browse to a street name, then click the house number you’re looking for.

• Use the links on the left side of the home page to browse the site’s deed records, census records and burial information.

• Click Related Information to read background material on the community and local organizations.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 3:44:25 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]